NCAA Tournament: Kentucky, Wisconsin set for Final Four rematch
The Kentucky Wildcats kept their quest for a perfect season and national championship alive Saturday, earning a trip to the Final Four by edging out Notre Dame in the Midwest Regional final, 68-66.
The Wildcats will face Wisconsin in the national semifinal after the top-seeded Badgers outlasted Arizona 85-78 to take the West Region crown. It's a rematch of last year's game, which Kentucky won by a single point.
On Sunday, the other two Final Four spots will be determined. Top seed Duke will take on No. 2 Gonzaga in the South Regional final in Houston, and seventh-seeded Michigan State will take on No. 4 Louisville in the East Regional final at Syracuse.
MIDWEST REGION
Kentucky 68, Notre Dame 66
CLEVELAND -- Pushed to the brink, Kentucky's still perfect and still playing.
Andrew Harrison made two free throws with six seconds remaining, and the top-seeded Wildcats kept their unbeaten season and national title hopes intact with a 68-66 win over Notre Dame on Saturday night in the Midwest Regional final.The Wildcats (38-0) advanced to the Final Four in Indianapolis next week, where they will meet Wisconsin.
It took everything Kentucky had to hold off the Fighting Irish (32-6), who came within seconds of shocking the tournament's overwhelming favorite. Notre Dame, which has a history of stunning upsets in football and basketball, wasn't done until Jerian Grant's double-clutch 3-pointer from the left corner was long.
Kentucky's bench stormed the floor and the Wildcats, who only had one other two-point game this season, celebrated knowing they had ducked a major challenge and are now just two wins from becoming the first team to go undefeated since Indiana in 1976.
"We didn't play very well and Notre Dame, I thought, controlled the whole thing, but we made the plays," Kentucky coach John Calipari said. "We figured out a way to win it. We're just saying one more game, play our best. We've had other tests, but we have a will to win."
Karl-Anthony Towns scored 25 to lead Kentucky, which trailed for most of the second half.
Zach Auguste scored 20, Steve Vasturia 16 and Grant 15 for the third-seeded Fighting Irish, playing in their first regional final in 36 years.
There was no doubt Notre Dame belonged. The ACC tournament champions controlled the tempo and weren't intimated by the Wildcats and their collection of high school All-Americans and soon-to-be NBA millionaires.
Calipari insisted on Friday his team was not perfect, only unbeaten and that any team left in the tournament was capable of toppling the top Cats.
WEST REGION
Wisconsin 85, Arizona 78
LOS ANGELES -- Frank Kaminsky and the Wisconsin Badgers hung on to make the Final Four again.
"Frank the Tank" scored 29 points, Sam Dekker added his second straight career high of 27 and the West Regional's top seed beat No. 2 Arizona 85-78 on Saturday to reach consecutive Final Fours for the first time in school history.
The Badgers (35-3) denied the Wildcats (34-4) a Final Four berth for the second straight year, having beaten them by one point in overtime in Anaheim a year ago when their seeds were reversed.
Wisconsin and 67-year-old coach Bo Ryan head to Indianapolis next week hoping for another shot at undefeated and top-seeded Kentucky, which beat the Badgers by one point in the national semifinals last year.
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Brandon Ashley scored 17 points each for the Wildcats, who once again failed to deliver a first-time Final Four appearance for coach Sean Miller. T.J. McConnell added 14 points in his last college game and Kaleb Tarczewski and Gabe York had 11 each.
Just like a year ago, Kaminsky came up big for the Badgers. He sidestepped and slithered, pivoted and deked in eluding the Wildcats' lockdown defense. Arizona tossed its biggest bodies on the 7-footer and he still found ways to score inside and out.
The Badgers hit 10 of 12 three-point attempts in the second half, outscoring the Wildcats 30-3 from long range.
Arizona pressured full court in the last four minutes, making for some perilous possessions by the Badgers as they darted and passed trying to safely get the ball down court. A long inbounds pass by Wisconsin was nearly intercepted before Josh Gasser grabbed it, got fouled and made both free throws to keep the Badgers ahead by 10 points.
The Wildcats twice got within five points in the last 2½ minutes, but both times Dekker dashed their hopes with arcing three-pointers.
Kaminsky led the Badgers' offensive outburst to start the second half. He scored eight of their 14 points, working their inside-outside game to perfection in finding Dekker for a three-pointer to put Wisconsin ahead 44-36.